The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-07-16
A LITTLE DIFFICULTY.
Dakota Bell.


 to get in the suburbs, nearer nature and rural scenes, and where rent Is cheaper. Some people find rent very high in Sioux Falls, but have a very fair article of family house for which l pay $S.5o per month. am behind couple of months with the pay now, but the landlord remembers it and looks sickly when he meets me on the street and speaks about it.
 Once he said he guessed he would have made more if he had worked the house up into firewood before we moved in.
 Among few earthly possessions have pony, brindle, sad-looking beast who spent her childhood iii Colorado. Near the house is a large expanse of virgin prairie, on which grows tough, flexible article ot grass. It Is style of grass which an eastern horse would say was pleasing to the eye but far from satisfying to the palate. But the pony appears to consider it about as juicy an article of food as she ever struck-which shows what an early diet of cactus and sage brush will do for any ones appetite. Naturally 1t occurred to me to pro- cure long rope and a two-bit picket pin and take the pony out on the strip of prairie and let her exercise herself on this grass. This would have worked all right. but. unfor- tunately, there is family living in the neighborhood, of German extrac- tion, I think The lady of the house. hold is about six feet tall. and judge from the somewhat hurried observa- tious 1 have made. is head of the fam fly. I am positive that she claims this whole prairie for something like half a mile in every direction as hers to picket her COW on. Neither she nor her husband own it, but she says she has lived here longer than l have and it is hers by right of discovery and conquest.
 The first time took the pony out there l had just nicely got the picket pin driven down when saw her coming. She was talking German very rapidly, occasionally giving her opinion of myself.personally in Eng 1 fish. It was far from flattcring. concluded to slide off the prairie and did so. got home and into the i house about four feet ahead of her. She then went to her house and ran her husband out to the barn and up into the haymow because he didn't come out and help her.
 After that l adopted the plan of getting up before sunrise and going over softly and driving down the pickct-pin with stick of wood. This worked pretty well for several days. l She would come out after breakfast and try to pull up the pin, and chase the pony around awhile with club and talk bad German, and then go home and abuse her husband because he wouldn't help.
 But the other morning it brought trouble again. She sat up all night waiting for me. I had just got the pin driven down nicely and was try ing to make quiet sneak back home when she came out with her peculiar long swinging gallop and headed me of.
 This time she brought long piece of inch -and-a half rubber hose with her. And she had her voice and the whole German language.
 turned and started back. went as fast as l could, but hardly as fast as should. got right down and ran little faster than I ever remember having ran before. but that old Ger man lady easily overlook me and bc- gan swinging that piece of hose.
 You never saw black rubber hose slash around like that did! People who witnessed if said it looked like big wheel twelve feet in diameter with ten thousand spokes!
 And about every two steps it hit me over tine heai and made n1o jump straight up in the air.
 And then she headed me off and chased me the other way. And all that time that lady was using Ian- guage in such frightfully loud tone and piercingly high key! It was a long distance around that prairie, but somehow it didn't seem to take but few minutes to get all over it several times.
 And then occasionally she would swing the hose around sideways and wind it around me three or four times.
 But at last when got opposite the house l dodged her and ran across the street and went in and hid.
 She went home, but has kept on the watch ever since, and l haven't even gone back after the pony yet.